Wind turbine tower on trunnion rollers.
When you pass by those large fields of wind turbines generating energy in remote fields, think about how they were put together and placed in their resting locations.
The assembly and fabrication process occurs with massive custom material handling equipment. The towers themselves can be 100 feet long with 12-14 feet diameters.
Moving these towers for painting and assembly requires roller assemblies that can support the static and dynamic loads.
In the modeling view above, we have created an assembly setup with forklift tires on the trunnion supports. These structures can way between 75 an 120 tons and have to be moved around the inside of a large fabrication shop to move between stations. Meadows Analysis often analyzes existing material handling equipment to see if it will meet safety and load requirements. We aim for a 2.5 to 1 safety factor.
If a new fabrication material handling assembly needs to be done, we can reinforce existing work or start with an entirely new design to support the fabrication process.
The wind turbines can then move through a production process that has been engineered with appropriate safety requirements.
Are you analyzing your heavy machinery fabrication processes for safety and load?